Federal File: The rumor mill; No conflicts; Power post

As President Clinton and his new Administration focus on filling
sub-Cabinet posts, speculation is running rampant among political
observers. Interviews with transition sources and with some of those
rumored to be candidates have yielded a few clues about who is under
consideration:

Many Congressional aides are apparently interested in moving to
the executive branch. Candidates for the position of assistant
secretary for legislation in the Education Department include Tom
Wolanin, a top aide to Rep. William D. Ford, D-Mich., the chairman of
the House Education and Labor Committee; and Richard Jerue, an aide
to Rep. Pat Williams, D-Mont. Both are known primarily for their work
on the Higher Education Act, which was reauthorized last year.

Michael J. Hall, the clerk of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, is a candidate for
the departmental post of assistant secretary for budget and
management.

John F. Jennings, the chief counsel to the Education and Labor
Committee, was contacted by the transition team, but says he is not
interested in a position within the department.

Other current and former Capitol Hill aides are also the subject of
rumor, but their inclusion on candidate lists could not be confirmed
last week.

Some lobbyists who represent state education agencies are also said
to be in the running for the Education Department legislation post.

Sharon Robinson, the director of the National Education
Association's National Center on Innovation, is said to be a
candidate for assistant secretary for elementary and secondary
education.

Candidates said to be under consideration to be assistant
secretary for educational research and improvement include Michael
Cohen, an education analyst who advised the Clinton campaign and has
been a key member of the transition's education-policy team; Susan
Fuhrman, the director of the Center for Policy Research in Education
at Rutgers University; Eva L. Baker, a co-director of the Center for
Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the
University of California at Los Angeles; Dena G. Stoner, the
executive director of the Council for Educational Development and
Research; and Lauren Resnick, a co-director of the Learning Research
and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh and a
co-director of the New Standards Project, a partnership of 17 states
developing a model student-testing system.

Marshall S. Smith, the dean of the school of education at
Stanford University, who has been one of the most frequently
mentioned possibilities--for either the now-filled post of deputy
secretary or the research job--is probably not a candidate at
all.

The appointments process has been kept within a tight circle of
close advisers, and much of the gossip may prove to be entirely without
foundation.

Transition sources say that even some people who are under
consideration for jobs have not been contacted and do not know for sure
that they are candidates.

Madeleine M. Kunin was not among the often-discussed possibilities
for an education post, and her name did not surface in the rumor mill
until shortly before transition officials announced that the former
Vermont Governor would be nominated to be deputy secretary of
education.

Ronald H. Brown, the former Democratic Party chairman who has been
nominated to be Secretary of Commerce, has taken a beating in the media
in recent weeks over a big bash several large corporations were
planning to throw in his honor. Critics charged that the corporate
donors could be affected by official decisions Mr. Brown might make
later.

The gala was canceled, but the executives were not the only ones
left holding the bag. Mr. Brown also decided not to attend two other
scheduled parties, one of which was an event sponsored jointly by the
National Education Association and the American Federation of
Teachers.

The party was held as scheduled--with banners and stickers reading
"A Salute to Ron Brown,'' but without the salutee.

"I was supposed to introduce Keith Geiger, and Keith Geiger was
supposed to introduce the guest of honor,'' Albert Shanker, the A.F.T.
president, told the crowd. "We've all been reading the paper. So I'm
able to do my job, but ...''

While there is little connection between education and Mr. Brown's
new job, Mr. Geiger, the N.E.A. president, noted, the Cabinet nominee
"didn't want to take a chance on another story about a conflict of
interest.''

"There's not a person in this room who is going to leave saying,
'I'm so disappointed he didn't come,' '' Mr. Geiger said in an
interview. "We're all having a good time anyway.''

"We had to have the party,'' one A.F.T. official said. "We'd all
bought our dresses already.''

Mr. Brown may have been a no-show, but the unions' work in behalf of
the Democrats was rewarded in another way last week--with high-level
representation on the Democratic National Committee.

Debra DeLee, the director of governmental relations for the N.E.A.,
was named one of five vice-chairmen.--J.M.

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